{"product_id":"2940013576445","title":"Aspire toward the Highest","description":"THE GRADUATION CEREMONY at Walden\u003cbr\u003eUniversity is a moving experience. It is not at\u003cbr\u003eall unusual to hear some child cry out, “Way\u003cbr\u003eto go grandma!”\u003cbr\u003eAt one such ceremony, Lovely Thorton, a\u003cbr\u003eblack woman married to an Air Force Chaplin\u003cbr\u003ein Germany, was selected to give the commencement\u003cbr\u003eaddress. She had earned the right\u003cbr\u003eby having the best Ph.D. dissertation that year.\u003cbr\u003eA hush fell over the crowd as Lovely\u003cbr\u003eThorton approached the podium.\u003cbr\u003eShe began with a poem.\u003cbr\u003eNo child, ain’t no time for school or play,\u003cbr\u003eGot to pick some cotton today.\u003cbr\u003eNo child, ain’t no time for school or play,\u003cbr\u003eGot to pick some peas today.\u003cbr\u003eAs Lovely Thorton told the story of her\u003cbr\u003erise from being the daughter of a sharecropper\u003cbr\u003ein Louisiana, Bernie and Rita Turner’s\u003cbr\u003ehearts swelled with pride. It was for just this\u003cbr\u003emoment that they had built Walden University.\u003cbr\u003eEach graduate was a pebble cast in the vast\u003cbr\u003epond of society, creating ripples of positive\u003cbr\u003esocietal change.\u003cbr\u003eMOST BOOKS OF THIS NATURE are either autobiographical\u003cbr\u003eor biographical. This book is a\u003cbr\u003ehybrid. The author and the subjects both have\u003cbr\u003ea speaking voice.\u003cbr\u003eBernie and Rita Turner are highly accomplished\u003cbr\u003eindividuals. Before joining forces to build\u003cbr\u003eWalden they were each standout individuals in\u003cbr\u003etheir professions. Once they joined forces the\u003cbr\u003edynamic was unstoppable. There were actually\u003cbr\u003etwo points at which that dynamic joining took\u003cbr\u003eplace. The first was the spring evening in 1954\u003cbr\u003ewhen they first met. Ordinary couples meet and\u003cbr\u003esparks fly. In the case of Bernie and Rita it was a\u003cbr\u003efull-scale lightning storm, the intensity of which\u003cbr\u003eonly time can abate. The second dynamic joining\u003cbr\u003eoccurred in 1970 when Bernie proposed Walden\u003cbr\u003eUniversity. Their fateful drive down the Tamiami\u003cbr\u003eTrail to the Cove Inn is the stuff of legends.\u003cbr\u003eNow I invite you to delve into one of the most\u003cbr\u003eamazing stories of true Americana. Consider\u003cbr\u003etwo caricatures of heroes: the noble, idealistic\u003cbr\u003edreamer and the hardnosed, unrelenting business\u003cbr\u003eentrepreneur. One can see terrible wrongs\u003cbr\u003ein society and strive for social justice. The other\u003cbr\u003ecan see unmet economic needs and, often\u003cbr\u003eagainst bitter obstacles, create solutions and\u003cbr\u003emake a profit. What happens when the two mesh\u003cbr\u003eto form one dream and one enterprise? This book\u003cbr\u003eis the answer.\u003cbr\u003e—Wade Keller","brand":"Wade Keller","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47082931552496,"sku":"2940013576445","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013576445_p0.jpg?v=1763582945","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013576445","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}